<*dv_5*> Recently I returned from a week in Benidorm. Before you start, it wasn't a drunken, tackle out affair, simply a week relaxing on my own at my parents apartment checking out the local fiestas. Now I know what you are thinking. Why Benidorm? It's nothing but an outdated lagered up den of inequity full of drunken monkeys sporting bulldog tattoos and Union Jack shorts. Well, in part you would be right but I was willing to give it a shot as Benidorm and I go way back.
It all began in the 60's when my Dad bought a holiday home in Benidorm when it was nothing more then a small fishing village. An exotic destination for Brits before the advent of package holidays. It's rapid growth over the years, due directly to the increased revenue from toursim, has transformed it from the sleepy backwater into one fo the worlds biggest tourist destinations with a skyline dominated by high rise hotels.
From an early age I remember being driven to Spain through France, a nightmare journey which baffles me now as despite cheap flights people still do it regularly. In the mid 80's the folks temporarily relocated to Costa Blanca for work reasons (no extradition arrangements on the Costa if you know what I mean) and I ended up going to a Spanish school in Benidorm. The city was and is distinctly split into two. The "holiday" end full of tourists, fun-pubs, hotels and tacky gift shops and the "old" benidorm where the locals went about their normal lives. We lived in the "old" part of the town and over the course of 3/4 years I had a wonderful time gaining a great many friends, a new language and an affinity and understanding with the spanish people.
<*dv_3*> I left at 14 I have been back about 3 times in a decade. Each time the changes were enormous. Benidrom has tripled in size and the surrounding areas have all been developed to accomodate the 3 million ex-pat Brits who live in the area. The village that had 2000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 1900's it is now capable of accomodating 5 million people per annum.
As I spent a large part of my recent holiday revisiting old haunts some of these changes stuck out like a chorizo in a Big Mac. Back in the day there seemed to be equal parts Dutch, German and French visitors which added to the exciting cosmopolitan atmosphere as I went about the business of being 13. In the intervening years the continentals have either been put off by our obnoxiousness or ousted by our spending power and sheer numbers as the place is dominated by the worst kind of Brit.The kind of people that you cross the road to avoid.
<*dv_2*> Benidorm boasts that it has removed it's 80's lager lout image but what has it been repalced by?. True, a lot of the tw*ts have moved to pastures new, Ibiza, Magaluf and for the adventurous Aiya Napa or Kavos but in their place the town is besieged by middle aged northern monkeys and common as muck southern lowlifes. My flight was packed with pikey drunkards whose only concern was if they could get from the airport to the bar before closing time. A couple didn't understand the concept of complinentary drinks and nearly wet themselves when they realised they could get a free G&T. Waiting for the bus in Alicante it suddenly dawned on me that all I could hear were English voices. Thinking I was a Spaniard they approached me with cockney accents .
"Catcho el bus from here, mate"
<*dv_4*> They slowed down a little and gestured with their hands, bless them. The international language of the lazy and the pig-headed is obviously understood by all.
Cruising around Benidorm the following day I noticed the general standard of living had improved. All the shops seemed to be doing well and every available area had been taken up with apartments, hotels, bars or restaurants. There weren't many clapped out bangers on the roads giving some indication that the locals all had a few . The beach has always been immaculate but the boardwalk had been pedestrianised, redone and was completely litter free.
"What are you complaining about?" you could well ask. Well, for me a lot of the character has eroded from the area. It is now a efficiently run complex offering punters exactly what they want "beer, egg and chips" for bottom dollar as they watch Eastenders in the fun pub with as little interaction with Spain as possible. All parks and wasteland had been developed and rural areas were now a hefty bus ride away. It was hardly a typical Spanish village when I lived there but now I'm a little older I find the lack of interaction disturbing.
I found it curious that during the fiestas which happened in the old part of town there were hardly any tourists. Streets were packed with Spaniards with only the odd "extranjero" as if this gem had been hidden from them as a conspiracy by pub owners who couldn't bear to lose their custom for a few hours. I presume much of the Mediterranean has headed this way. Market forces have molded the area to resemble a bastardised form of England complete with karaoke, McDonalds and Sky T.V.
A few of you might be saying:
<*dv_1*> "Those Deigos make a very nice living thank you very much, I don't see them complaining".
<*dv_0*> True they have seen their country prosper on the back of the richer Nothern European countries but you will find that a lot of the establishments are run by ex-pats as well, so it isn't an exclusively altruistic excercise by the beerboys.
Perhaps I'm a snob. Perhaps because I have had the privilege of learning the language and now expect everyone should communicate with their hosts. Perhaps I'm nostalgic for my carefree childhood years and see everything through rose tinted spectacles.
Whatever it is my love affair with Benidorm could be at an end.
Dara
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